Taiwan NT clinched the semifinal birth in the afternoon but lost to Korea University Select Team, 86-74, in the last game to finish the preliminary round at 4-3. Taiwan will face Qatar in the semifinal tomorrow to vie for the right to play in the title game.
Korea finished the prelims with 5-2 and will meet Athletes in Action tomorrow in the other semifinal matchup. Winners of the semis advance to the title game while losers play for the third-place.
The young Koreans demostrated their maturity in the last quarter, when they outscored the home team 22-11, and came away with a convincing victory. Park Sung Woo led Korea with 20 points and Kang Byung Hyung scored 11. Park Sang Hyung and Lee Ji Yoon had 10 apiece.
Taiwan was able to see eye to eye with Korea in the first three quarters but was hurt by their 17.9% 3-point shooting, especially when you consider most of their shots came from behind the three-point line.
Lee Chi-yi, Chen Hsin-an and Tien Lei scored 14 points each. Lee Hsueh-lin had 12 points while Yang Che-yi had 10. Lin Chi-jay scored 9 points.
In the 5th-8th place games, Kazakhstan will meet Japan and Philippines meets Australia. Winners will play for the fifth-place on Sunday while losers play for the 7-th place.
Athletes in Action 84-74 Kazakhstan(46-30)
Trailing from the opening minute, Kazakhstan managed to tie the score in the third quarter before fading again. AIA opened the game with a 13-0 run and finished the game strong.
Kazakhstan's loss also clinched Taiwan's semifinal birth before Taiwan meets Korea later tonight.
Kazakhstan, which has eight U-18 players on its roster, proves it's going to be a strong team in the Asian Junior Championship this year in Urumqi, China.
AIA - Anthony Dandridge 16p, Troy Devries 15p, Josh Carter 12p, Dominique Kirk 11p
KAZ - Isakov Evgeni 17p, Anton Ponomarev 15p, Rustam Yargaliev 13p
Qatar 90-65 Australia U-19 NT(49-35)
Philippines 112-86 Japan U-24 NT(53-43)
Just 23 seconds into the game Philippines' Nino Canaleta was ejected for swinging elbow at a Japanese player. Aside from that, the PBA Select Team was hardly challenged by the Japanese as the seasoned veterans of Philippines could always pull off another run after Japan closed the gap.
PHI - Arwind Santos 22p, John Arigo 20p, Ali Peek 14p, Dennis Miranda 13p, Alfred Tenorio 12p
JPN - Yusuke Okada 23p, Yosuke Machida 17p, Takumi Ishizaki 12p
Standings:
1. Qatar 6-1
2. AIA 6-1
3. Korea 5-2
4. Taiwan 4-3
5. Kazakstan 3-4
6. Australia 2-5
7. Philippines 2-5
8. Japan 0-7